


Travel Plans

by lazyDaysie



Category: Dragon Quest Series, Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Just boys being friends, Luminary is a sad boy, Pre-Slash, i ship it like fedex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 04:06:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16110458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyDaysie/pseuds/lazyDaysie
Summary: After Cobblestone, the Luminary feels lost. Erik helps. Kinda.





	Travel Plans

**Author's Note:**

> There is a horrible dearth of Dragon Quest XI fics, and I am here to contribute because I am dying inside.
> 
> I call the Luminary El because I think it's cute.

Cobblestone was a cute little town, or it had been before Jasper and his goons got to it. Erik glowered at their campfire, stirring up the embers with a stick as he added a few more logs. Elior, of course, said as much as he had for the past day or so, which was to say nothing at all. Honestly, Erik didn’t blame him. It couldn’t be easy, losing everyone and everything you’d ever known just by trusting the wrong person. Still, it felt… awful, just watching the poor guy stare at his sword. He just seemed so… lost.

“Hey, El,” Erik said, not really expecting El to hear him. “When we get the Red Orb, let’s see if we can find a ship to take us somewhere.”

After a moment, El responded, eyes still on his sword. “...where?”

Erik made a show of thinking about it, and then he shrugged. “Puerto Valor, maybe? It’s warm there, and if we’ve got to lie low, it might as well be somewhere with a beach and a casino.” Erik grinned deviously. “So many drunk gamblers, so little time…”

El let out a thin huff of a laugh, but Erik counted it as progress.

“Just think! It would be like taking candy from a baby, and we’ll be rich as kings by the time we move on!”

“Where would we go after that?” El asked, voice a bit stronger.

Erik felt relief buoy his spirits, and his grin turned a bit more genuine. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe Gondolia? I hear the cakes are delicious there, and maybe we could go from there to Gallopolis, buy a horse or two—” He glanced over at the pale steed that the Luminary had ridden, “or maybe just one. You know, make things fair for me.”

“We’d make faster progress if we both rode,” El agreed, a bit vague but so much more present than before.

“Of course!” Erik nodded. “And then your horse could have a bit of company. Maybe some female company,” he added, wagging his brows.

El was adorably flustered, face going red in the firelight. “I don’t know if that would be best… We might end up with a foal to look after.”

Erik shrugged. “Well, they’d both have fun making it,” he cackled.

El buried his face in his hands. “Stoooop,” he groaned, but Erik could hear a smile on his voice.

“Just think,” Erik said, nearly dizzy with relief, “a happy little family!”

As the word family left his mouth, Erik could already tell he’d made a mistake; El’s shoulders began to shake, his fingertips curling into his scalp with enough force to turn the skin white. With a muttered curse picked up somewhere in the Heliodor slums, Erik scrambled to crouch beside his Luminary.

“El, hey, stay with me,” he said, pulling at El’s hands. “You’re okay.”

There was a soft hiccup as Erik managed to uncover El’s face; his expression was blank, but his blue eyes were dull and lifeless and shining with unshed tears.

“Mum,” El whispered brokenly. “Gemma, Mayor Dunstan, even Sandy.”

“I know.” Erik kept a firm hold on El’s hands, keeping them away from his face.

“There were little children in Cobblestone, Erik.” El’s voice was small and overflowing with horror. “Cody, he… he wanted to be like me.”

Not for the first time, Erik cursed the King of Heliodor and every knight who served him, but for the moment, he had bigger priorities.

“Hey, El, look at me,” Erik said, keeping his voice low. “I can’t say I understand, but—”

“Understand?” El shook his head, the tears finally spilling over. “They went to Cobblestone because I lived there. My whole life was in Cobblestone, and—” El choked on a sob. “It’s all my fault.”

“Like hell,” Erik retorted, gripping El’s hands tight. “You listen to me. What happened to Cobblestone is no one’s fault but King Carnelian.”

“I…” El bowed his head, leaning forward until his forehead rested on Erik’s shoulder. “It hurts, Erik.”

Erik released El’s hands only to pull him into an embrace, tucking the Luminary’s silky hair under his chin. “...I know, El.”

“They hurt my mum.” El began to sob in earnest, tears beginning to soak through Erik’s shirt. “They hurt Mum and Gemma and, and Cody, and Sandy, and no one stopped them.”

“They’ve got a lot to answer for,” Erik said, keeping his voice low, comforting, but with the dark edge of anger in every word. “This won’t happen again, because we’ll be the ones to stop them, okay?”

El nodded against Erik’s shoulder, hiccuping softly every so often as he tried to get his crying under control.

“So maybe it won’t be easy, but we’ll get there.” Erik tried to make himself sound as certain as he could, rubbing circles on El’s back and holding him close. “We got each other now, right?”

El gave a soft huff, almost like the laugh from before. “Right,” he said.

“And Puerto Valor,” Erik added. He just wanted the poor guy to stop crying, to see light in the Luminary’s eyes again. “We’ll definitely have Puerto Valor.”

“Until they kick you out for cheating at poker,” El agreed, voice shaking. Still, he was trying.

“Bold of you to assume they’d catch me,” Erik grinned, his grip loosening on El. El, however, seemed opposed to this, worming his arms around Erik’s ribs and grabbing him in a fierce embrace.

“Thank you,” El murmured into Erik’s shirt. “Just… thanks.”

Erik’s heart throbbed painfully for a split second. “Anytime, pal,” he managed through the lump in his throat.

El refused to let go for quite a while, so Erik simply held him, letting his eyes close as the fire crackled away merrily. As he drifted into a light sleep, he faintly realized that he would gladly die, not for the Luminary, but for El.

In the morning, they wouldn’t speak of it, taking the Red Orb from the Kingsbarrow with the usual sort of trouble. Nevertheless, over the coming days, Erik would find his eyes going to El, seeking him out even when there was no reason to. He would find himself turning back into danger for the sake of the Luminary with a sort of reckless glee for which El would scold him mercilessly.

Many mornings after that, Sylvando would call theirs a special bond, and he’d be more right than he’d know.

—Fin

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you enjoyed~


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